9 February 2011

Draft Charter of Rights for Mental Health Consumers now online

| johnboy
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Following on from yesterday’s story on the Draft Charter of Rights for Mental Health Consumers consultation we can now happily report that the draft charter is now online.

It’s a slim 14 point volume:

    1. Consumers, at all times, have the right to receive services and to be treated in a way that is consistent with the Human Rights Act 2004 (ACT)

    2. Consumers have the right to respect and to have their individual human dignity valued and to be free from unlawful discrimination.

    3. Consumers have the right to evidence based health care at all stages of their illness.

    4. Consumers have the right to equality and non discrimination; to live, work and participate in the community to the extent of their full potential with equitable access to human services.

    5. Consumers, regardless of diagnosis, have the right to timely access to mental health services that promote independence and recovery according to their needs.

    6. Consumers have a right to mental health services that respect the individual needs of consumers, including needs related to age, culture, language, disability, gender and sexuality.

    7. Consumers have the right to appropriate, comprehensive and timely information regarding their mental health and the treatments available, and to participate at all stages of their care and recovery.

    8. Consumers have the right to be treated in the most therapeutic and least restrictive environment appropriate to their individual needs.

    9. Consumers have the right to access mechanisms of complaint and redress, to appeal decisions and to seek second opinions regarding their treatment and care.

    10. Consumers have the right to participate in mental health proceedings. Consumers have the right to access independent advocacy and legal advice regarding their treatment and care and social needs.

    11. Consumers have the right to access family and friends and other supports.

    12. Children and young people requiring mental health services have the right to the provision of services that are appropriate to their age and developmental needs; they have the right to participate in decisions about their care and treatment.

    13. Consumers have the same right to privacy and confidentiality of personal information as other health consumers.

    14. Consumers subject to the criminal justice system have the right to access mental health care appropriate to their clinical and social needs that is equivalent to care available in the community.

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poppy said :

For example there is a long waiting period for access to psychological services. How is this charter going to change things? The only thing that would change things is more psychologists.

For ATAPS, too many brokers think that you can only contract psychologists to provide the service. In fact, any appropriate allied health are eligible under the rules of the program, and social workers or OTs are often much more appropriate, more accessible, and more affordable! Greater use of other mental health professionals would see people with issues being helped more quickly.

Every point mentions “rights”. There are no such rights. Australians have few real rights (see our politicians’ view — profoundly optimistic and impractical — of Australia’s actual human rights protection in paragraphs 1.8 through 1.22 of The Senate report Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee (2011), Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill 2010 [Provisions] and Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2010 [Provisions] (see http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/Committee/legcon_ctte/human_rights_bills_43/report/index.htm and http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/Committee/legcon_ctte/human_rights_bills_43/report/report.pdf).
Even the ACT’s Human Rights Act is only about Civil and Political Rights … and its Section 28 says all other ACT legislation over-rules our rights anyway.
People with mental disorders protection and services … not just those who the ACT Government deigns to allow in as patients or consumers.
The draft charter is clinically delusional.

So we supposedly have the right to timely access to mental health services?

What a joke – some stupid charter of rights isn’t going to change this at all!

For example there is a long waiting period for access to psychological services. How is this charter going to change things? The only thing that would change things is more psychologists.

When did patients become ‘consumers’ ?

If there are actions to back up these fine sounding words I’ll be truly impressed.

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